>> 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. the president of egypt rejects an ultimatum from the military after top generals give him 48 hours to work out his differences with the opposition. >> north korea uses a regional security forum to press again for unconditional talks but says its nuclear weapons are here to stay. and with big businesses in south korea pressuring smaller

businesses to buy more stock than they need, the president is vowing to wipe out unfair practices. egypt's first democratically elected president is in a standoff with the opposition and now the country's top generals. mohamed morsi has rebuffed an ultimatum with the military to resolve his differences with the opposition by wednesday afternoon. anti-morsi protesters came together on the first anniversary of his taking office. they're refusing to back down. nhk world's kohei tsuji reports from cairo. >> reporter: they want president morsi to resign and take responsibility for the poor economy and worsening security situation. they are welcoming the military's attempt to force him to negotiate with his opponents.

>> translator: we welcome the military's decision. the military is with us. we suffered for 30 years under the mubarak administration, but morsi's government is also bad. >> reporter: the atmosphere in tahrir square is reminiscent of the 2011 demonstrations that forced mubarak from office. tents and other temporary structures have been set up in tahrir square. they are vowing to stay until their demands are met. military commanders told the islamist president to agree on a common platform with the opposition but morsi is rejecting that demand. his office said in a statement he was not consulted in advance and that his government will go forward as planned to promote national reconciliation. an islamist alliance that

includes muslim brotherhood denounced the ultimatum as an act that could lead to a coup against the will of the people. >> translator: we reject any attempt by the opposition to use the military to turn against the president's legitimacy. >> reporter: supporters of the president are gathering nationwide to show they outnumber his opponents. some islamists feel they are under siege. they say they are fighting to defend their values. neither side is backing down and both are planning more demonstrations. president morsi is trying to manage the crisis, but with key ministers saying they will leave his cabinet, he is being painted into a corner. whatever happens, the way forward in egypt will surely be difficult. kohei tsuji, nhk world, cairo. taliban insurgents have

attacked a facility in kabul, leaving seven people dead. it's the latest in terrorist assaults in the afghan capital. an armed group detonated a car filled with explosives that was left at the gate to the facility and tried to enter the compound early tuesday. the attackers also exchanged gunfire with guards. local police say four police guards and three afghans were killed. they say all five attackers died. the taliban released a statement, claiming responsibility. the group also attacked the presidential palace and an airport last month. they're increasing their offensive ahead of next year's presidential election and the withdrawal of international troops. afghan officials say 300 soldiers and 180 civilians were killed in taliban attacks last month. north korea has used a major regional conference to repeat demands for talks with the united states, but the reclusive nation says it has no intention of giving up its nuclear

weapons. the north's foreign minister on tuesday attended a regional forum of the association of southeast asian nations taking place in brunei. dhra dhirakaosal reports. >> reporter: asean foreign ministers have been meeting here in the capital with their counterparts from many other countries in the asia pacific region. the asean regional forum's agenda was dominated by security issues with north korea grabbing the headlines on the final day. north korea participated in the meeting on tuesday as did the united states, china and japan and asean's ten member nations. >> the issue of korean peninsula is one of regional and international issue to discuss. there was concern about recent tension on the peninsula. >> north korea and the united states seem unable to bridge their differences. the north made a fresh proposal

for senior level talks without conditions and a virtue the united states seems certain to reject. foreign minister insisted his country's possession of nuclear weapons is justified. he blamed tension on the korean peninsula squarely on the united states. and he said the north will continue its nuclear program. with the two sides so far apart, the prospect of the stalled six-party talks resuming any time soon appears remote. nhk world's hirshi takano has more. >> reporter: north korea spent months escalating tensions with provocative words and actions. the reclusive state launched what it called a rocket. what observers called a missile. it also carried out a third nuclear test. but in may the north koreans shifted course and began to

signal they were ready to talk. a senior official visiting china reportedly said north was open to all forms of dialogue including the stalled six-party talks. the change of tone comes as the north struggles with an increasingly dire economic situation at home. a new buzz word from a north korean propaganda campaign to promote economic growth. the campaign gets its name from a mountain in the east of the country where kim jong-un has ordered construction of a world class ski resort. soldiers are hurrying to complete the facility by the end of the year.

analysts say the campaign reflects a sense of urgency among north korean leaders about the pace of economic growth. with economic sanctions, there's a limit to what the north is can do on its own. pyongyang is to open chains of supplies for food and ultimately to sanctions. but north korea refuses to give up its nuclear program because of what it calls american threats. experts say unless its position changes, north korea will

struggle to entice nations back to the negotiating table. the united states, japan and south korea want to see progress and only then can six-party talks resume. nhk world, brunei. >> nhk world's washington, d.c. reporter, anthony yuzaki is here in brunei covering meetings. what is the north's strategy? >> well, for north korea this was an opportunity to convey policies directly to the six party countries including the united states, japan and south korea. north korean foreign minister actually blamed the united states for tension on the korean peninsula. as long as the u.s. is in possession of nuclear weapons, the north also needs them for its own self-defense.

the north is sticking to what has been its long term position. it has made no concessions. so north koreans seem to want to give the impression that it's open to dialogue and it is actually u.s., japan and south korea who are standing in the way. >> what can we expect from pyongyang? >> for the north, the ultimate goal seems to be direct talks with the united states. it seems willing to start with multilateral talks. actually made clear today after the session of the meetings. >> translator: we have already proposed bilateral talks with the u.s. it totally depends on them. >> is there any possibility that dialogue between north korea and the united states will move forward as a result of these asean meetings? >> well, frankly, i'd say there's very little possibility of that happening.

u.s. president barack obama has clearly said that the u.s. will not give-in to north korea's usual pattern of provocation followed by negotiations and finally winning concessions. so the u.s. will likely continue to deal with north korea by maintaining sanctions, stepping up pressure and strengthening cooperation with japan and south korea. >> thank you, anthony. and that was nhk world's anthony yazaki. >> within the frame work of six party talks would be acceptable. the meetings have highlighted two potential points. as the asia pacific region takes a more important role in the global economy, ensuring security here will become an even bigger global challenge. thank you for joining us here in brunei, i'm dhra dhirakaosal. emerging economic powers still struggling with poverty. emboldened citizens still demanding democracy, the threat of violence, the push for peace,

the shadow of conflict. get news and insight on south and southeast asia every weekday live from bangkok only on nhk world "newsline." scientists in india have opened a new chapter in the country's first space program. they've put their first satellite into orbit part of a plan to locate an indian global positioning program. scientists plan to launch a total of seven satellites. together they will make up the indian regional navigation satellite system. the system will cover india and south asia. it's designed to be accurate to about 20 meters, precise enough to locate cars and ships. the indian system is scheduled to begin operating in 2015. it will serve as an alternative to the united states global positioning system. russia, china, the european union and japan have either completed or working on their own networks. in russia a rocket carrying

communication satellites crashed seconds after launch. emergency teams immediately sealed off the site. the rocket was loaded with a large amount of toxic fuel. the russian space agency launched the proton-m booster carrying three glonass-m satellites. but 17 seconds after blast aufr it ignited and burst into flames midair. the wreckage fell about 60 kilometers from a residential area. the agency is blaming engine trouble. three years ago the same type of rocket carrying three satellites failed to reach orbit and plunged into the pacific ocean. executives overseeing the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant want to restart reactors at another plant they own. the tepco officials want permission to resume operations at the reactors in kashiwazaki

in nagata prefecture. all but two reactors in japan remain offline following the 2011 accident at the fukushima plant. reactors must meet new safety standards that go into effect this month before they can go back into operation. the governor is opposed to the plan by the tokyo electric power company. he says there can be no discussion about restarting the plant until the fukushima accident is thoroughly investigating. tepco's board of directors decided to apply for government screening of the kashiwazaki plant as soon as the new guidelines take effect. >> translator: we'd like to explain to the residents why we want to make our application to the government as soon as possible. >> tepco raised electricity fees last year to cover the growing cost of fuel for its thermal

power plants, but it continues to struggle with the huge deficit. tepco posted more than $6.8 billion losses in the year through march. the firm must return to the black by march next year in order to receive taxpayer money and bank loans to rebuild its finances. it says by operating just one reactor it can cut fuel costs by about $10 million a month. officials from around 120 countries say they must do more to protect nuclear facilities from terrorist attacks. they've agreed to adopt security guidelines drawn up by the international atomic energy agency. the iaea hosted a meeting in vienna, austria. >> if a bomb is detonated in a major city or sabotage occurs at a nuclear facility, the consequences could be devastating. the threat of nuclear terrorism is real. >> the delegates adopted a

declaration pledging to follow the iaea's nuclear security guidelines and agreed to minimize the use of highly enriched uranium. the material can be made into nuclear weapons. they are afraid of terrorists getting hold of radioactive materials in hospitals and factories. japanese and u.s. automakers have been competing in the race to go green. now honda motor and general motors are teaming up to create an ecofriendly car. engineers with the two companies have been working separately to develop vehicles that run on fuel cells. the collaboration will likely help them reduce costs. fuel cell cars run on electricity and emit no greenhouse gases. competition to produce vehicles using the technology is heating up. other japanese automakers have entered similar tie-ups. toyota is joining forces with bmw and nissan will work with diamler and ford.

>> south korea is emerging as an economic powerhouse. but recent revelations have sent shock waves through the country. the government has been forced to step in and uncomfortable questions are being asked about the way business is being conducted. nhk world has more. >> reporter: this audio recording was posted on a video sharing website in may. an employee of a major dairy producer tries to force a deal to buy more products than he actually needs using a threatening manner.

the recording was soon being listened to by people around the country and the dairy firm found itself the target of a boycott. the owners the dairy rallied daily in front of the office. he signed a contract with the firm 20 years ago. nowadays, he places orders using his smartphone. he says the maker is trying to force them to purchase more than they need. >> translator: they often deliver 30% more goods than i actually order. some of the products are even past their sale-by date. >> reporter: he says he has been trying hard to expand his in

order to sell the products but the dairy firm keeps increasing its demands each year. now it sometimes sends more than three times what was ordered. to make matters worse, the firm doesn't allow the dealers to return unsold stock. instead it passes all of the losses on to the dealers. in the face of mounting anger, the dairy maker announced last month that it agreed with some dealers to set up a fund to assist their operations, but the majority of them remain unsatisfied as past damages are not included in the deal. similar problems are coming to light in the retail industry. since april, three people who ran franchises of major convenience store chains have committed suicide.

the incident drew sharp reaction from president park geun hye. >> translator: these practices shouldn't be allowed under a government that prizes a fair market economy. i'm committed to wiping out unfair trade in south korea. >> reporter: the ruling party has submitted the draft bill to the national assembly that aims to stamp out unfair practices of some big companies. but an expert says more is needed. he says that to bring about fundamental changes, the economic structure that gives absolute power to a small number of conglomerates has to undergo of conglomerates has to undergo reform. >> translator: if it doesn't eliminate the concentration of wealth and the power of conglomerates. >> reporter: south korean

companies have made significant strides in the past few decades. they've gained respect for their world-class products. but the country still has a long way to go before it achieves a fairer economy. nhk world, seoul. let's take a look at the latest market figures.

there's a tropical system in southern china. meteorologist robert speta has more. robert. >> we have been watching this system pushing off there into the south china sea and then off there towards southern china. actually impacting the philippines over the weekend. this is tropical storm rumbia, actually most recently downgraded to a tropical depression. but when it came ashore here on tuesday morning, it was a severe tropical storm. and it had packed quite a punch. i want to show you video coming out of the gaun dong area where this pushed ashore. you can see these winds really kicking up there where it made landfall here on early tuesday morning. it did disrupt traffic. you can see some of these trees knocked down due to high winds continuing to push through. ahead of the storm many authorities asked boats to return to harbor because these waves were just absolutely scary coming ashore here, up to about two to four meters high. many people had to get out and rescue residents due to the coastal and low lying flooding.

good news as far as rumbia it is no longer a tropical storm, now a tropical depression. and continuing the weekend out here it lost its moisture source, which was the south china sea. that is the life blood of these tropical systems. once they move to shore just continuing to weaken out. still the risk of heavy rainfall in the next 72 hours due to leftover prescription coming. but for now really this system is going to be ending here in the near future. now let's look farther off to the north. talk about another storm system which is pushing through northeastern china even causing some rough weather there in central china. now it's moving across the korean peninsula. past 24 hours one report about 176 millimeters of rainfall. numerous reports over 100 millimeters. a widespread range. this is going to start to push over towards japan on wednesday. now, if you think this is going to be one of those storm systems that pushes through with some fair weather working behind it really quickly, that is not the case. attached to the rainy season front and that's going to continue to linger. and it does look like through

wednesday through the remainder of the week in japan it's just going to sit over head and some foul weather conditions are going to be expected out here as it does continue to persist. as far as temperatures though, shanghai with a high of 38, seoul at 29, seeing showers here. tokyo, cloudy skies but don't be surprised if you see an afternoon thunderstorm pop-up especially inland going through wednesday afternoon into the evening hours. let's talk about the americas. really, it's the meandering jet stream out here which is dominating the weather pattern right now. i'll show you what i mean here. over towards the west we have this high pressure ridge. and look how far north that jet stream is continuing to push. then it dives down into the gulf of mexico where you have this low pressure area though that is the air being lifted up. and it's also dragging in this moisture in from the south off the atlantic pushing it on shore. the next several days many areas see about 50 to 100 millimeters of rainfall. already flash flood watches in effect here as well. and even some strong storms, actually a tornado reported in new jersey. so this is going to be continuing to be a problem

through the next several days. it's just the fact that this is lingering, it's not going anywhere very fast. there's a risk of flooding. now we're talking about hot temperatures out towards the west. this is very dangerous in itself because this heat is quite extreme. take a look at some of these temperatures. las vegas, high of 47. this is record breaking out here. death valley, well, there's a reason why we call that. take a look at that into the 50s. as far as europe, well, fairer weather in the forecast for much of central and eastern europe. high pressure ridge coming in from the south bringing much more decent warmer weather. budapest getting up into the 30s by the end of the week. but there's a new storm system coming in. and that's going to bring some showers across the british isles, then work its way into france and germany where you're going to be expecting those rain showers on wednesday. but that's a look at your world weather. here's the extended forecast.

as summer draws near, people turn to cold refreshing foods. residents and visitors in western japan have been enjoying a local special ty to cool down. producers of sanuki wheat noodles gave away 1,000 bowls outside the department store in the city. july 2nd is known as noodle day there. farmers in the region used to eat to mark the end of rice planting. they were served in a cold soup with a sprinkle of green onions and a slice of citrus fruit. >> translator: it's great. nice and cold. >> i want to eat this every day. that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk

world, thanks for joining us. have a great day wherever you are.

♪ the rainy season is finally over and the sun is shining down over ohara, kyoto. the greenery of the fields deepen by the day and the season brings about new changes in