prime minister yoshihiko noda has told a u.n. meeting that japan will raise the safety of its nuclear power plants to the highest level in the world. noda was speaking before a high-level united nations meeting on nuclear safety on thursday in new york. he expressed gratitude for the support received from around the world, following the march 11th earthquake and tsunami. noda then addressed the accident at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant that was triggered by the disaster. >> translator: there has been steady progress in efforts to bring the situation under control. the latest estimated amount of radioactive substances being released from the crippled plant is 1/4 millionth the figure at the beginning of the accident. we're doing all we can to achieve a cold shutdown of the reactors by the end of the year, earlier than initially scheduled. >> noda acknowledged that japan was not sufficiently prepared

for a serious accident resulting in damage to a reactor core. he said the government will examine the cause of the accident from a neutral and objective standpoint and release its findings to the international community. noda said the government plans to set up a new nuclear safety agency in april of next year. and to tighten the relevant regulations. he also said japan will support other countries' efforts to improve nuclear safety. he added that japan will work harder to develop and use renewable energy sources and present its mid and long-term energy strategies next mmer. a japaneseoverent survey offers new information about the spread of radioactive iodine from the accident at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. it said that the contamination extended not only to the northwest of the facility, but also to the south. the science ministry sampled soil at 2,200 locations, mostly in fukushima prefecture in june and july. it then created a map showing

the extent of a contamination as of june 14th. the latest map confirms that like seize yum 137, iodine 131 spread northwest of the plant, but contamination was discovered at relatively high levels south of the facility. the researchers found that the levels of iodine 131 were higher than those of cesium 137 in the southern coastal areas. ministry officials say clouds moving southward over the nuclear power plant apparently caught large amounts of iodine 131 being emitted at the time. exposure to iodine 131 can cause thyroid cancer. the ministry is trying to determine what levels the substance spread immediately after the accident. efforts have begun to compensate those affected by the accident at the fukushima

daiichi nuclear power plant. more than 130,000 people who were forced to evacuate their homes received claim forms from the plant's operator, tokyo electric power company, tepco. tepco is expected to pay tens of billions of dollars in compensation. but the victims are confused. they say the application procedure is extremely complex. the evacuees are worried about the amount of money they will receive. tonight's "nuclear watch" focuses on compensation for the victims of the crisis. >> reporter: tepco sent claim forms last week to 60,000 households, or about 140,000 people. they're living temporarily not just in fukushima prefecture, but also in other areas around the country. >> reporter: yoshida is the head

of a four-member family that now lives in tokyo. he and his family were evacuated from tomioka town, 11 kilometers away from the crippled nuclear plant. yoshida was running a japanese-style inn. he was allowed to visit his home briefly last month. but because it's located in a no-entry zone with high radiation levels, he has no prospects for reopening his business. when yoshida received the compensation forms, he was astonished at the number of documents. tepco offers a guideline for claimable items. including evacuation costs, psychological damage, decreases in income due to evacuation, and costs for radiation testing.

yoshida's family has spent over $50,000 during the past six months. that includes gasoline bills, household goods and living expenses. to receive compensation, applicants are responsible for separating expenses by category. that's a heavy burden on them. yoshida now works part-time at a construction site. he says his physical strength has reached its limit and he's exhausted from doing work he's not accustomed to. >> translator: we're just living day to day. i'm not asking for a better l e life. i just want to make progress in the compensation process so that we can lead a stable life. >> with us is kimoti kir saw

waugh. we'll guide you with a simultaneous translation. the accident at fukushima daiichi shook the world. but only six months into the accident, tepco started compensating people affected by the crisis. why is it taking so long? >> in short, neither the japanese government or tepco expected such an accident to happen. so they were not sufficiently prepared. regarding compensation for nuclear accidents, many countries with nuclear power plants have been placed in place special legislation which provides for example stipulations which place primary responsibility on the plant operator. japan, germany and switzerland have not set an upper limit for the amount of compensation to be paid out. but nuclear energy superpowers such as the united states and france and many other countries, such as south korea, have placed a cap on payable compensation.

the legislation varies from country to country. but in all countries, the laws are aimed at providing relief swiftly to the victims. however, for the fukushima accident, there was no scheme in place to immediately pay out massive sums in compensation projected to be in the order of several trillions of yen. it was impossible for tepco alone to pay thatch money. and although the law provides for the government to help out in a case like this, no specific scheme had been worked out on how that would be done. the framework for compensation payouts was outlined in early august and it took a long time to decide what sort of damage would be eligible for compensation. the first compensation payments will begin next month at earliest. >> as shown in the video clip, people seem to have been frustrated with the paperwork. >> that's right. the amount of documents which tepco sent out to the victims. the manual for filling out the forms, that alone is 156 pages

long. the most frequent complaint from victims is that they can't figure out how to complete the forms, even if they read the manual. the manual explains in very fine and complex detail the many requirements for eligibility and so forth. tepco's call center receives more than 3,000 phone calls of grievances and phone calls per day. yesterday tepco announced the eligibility criteria for compensation for businesses. but the complexity of the paperwork is the same for businesses, as well. and in the face of such criticism. tepco said yesterday at a news conference, they do not intend to revise the manual or the procedures. >> translator: i apologize for the inconvenience. but the forms have become longer because we want the victims to record details of all items they deserve compensation for. we cannot make the application lighter.

>> quick response is needed. but what should tepco and the government do after this? >> more consideration is to be shown to the position and feelings of the victims. tepco needs to think of how they would feel, if they were to receive a huge stack of complicated documents that seem to lack imagination. tepco has said it will assign 6,500 staff members to deal with the compensation issue. but it's still unclear how well they can respond to the needs of the victims who have scattered across japan. so the government, which for many years, has promoted nuclear energy as national policy, should take a more proactive role. for example, they should coordinate with local governments to assign counselors to help out with the compensation issue. and set up help desks at local government offices. the victims not only need compensation, they want to

return to their homes and they want to return to their lives they led before the accident. the government and tepco need to take this to heart and work hard to make sure nobody is unjustly treated or left out in the compensation program. >> thank you very much. that was nhk world's hirasawa reporting for us tonight. "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan, post march 1179. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. "nuclear watch" brings you impact on the fukushima daiichi nuclear crisis. and "the road ahead" examines japanese efforts to re cover and rebuild. don't miss them on "newsline." typhoon roke has moved away from japan, after inflicting damage over a wide area of the

country. the meteorological agency said the typhoon was downgraded to a low pressure system over the sea to the east of hokkaido on thursday, but authorities are still warning of possible flooding and landslides throughout the country. the typhoon passed through disaster-stricken tohoku region wednesday. the flooding it caused in miyagi prefecture isolated hundreds of people in temporary housing overnight. local officials asked residents to evacuate, but they were unable to reach their designated locations on higher ground, because of flooded roads. >> translator: we had no choice but to stay in this temporary shelter. it was very scary. >> the evacuees had to spend the night in a nearby community center until ground self-defense force personnel reached the area early thursday morning. the typhoon also approached the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant on wednesday night, but it caused no major damage. this picture shows rain water

flowing into the basement of the number six reactor building. at four other reactor buildings whose basements are flood with contaminated water, the water rose between 10 and 14 centimeters because of the rain. it halted operations to remove salt from the contaminated water. tokyo electric power company said several cameras used to monitor the compounds suffered several glitches, likely due to rain. next we go to our bureau in bangkok, pachari raksawong has the latest on what's going on in the region. as pakistan's flooding crisis worsens by the day, the international community is stepping up promises of assistance. of pakistanis displaced from their homes help cannot come soon enough. satisfaction with the pakistani government's own response is rising. nhk world reports.

>> reporter: since last month, southern pakistan has been hit by torrential rains that trigger floods across the region. the official death toll has risen to 361. with more than 80 million people affected. assistance has been promised from countries around the world. china says it will supply relief goods, worth $4.7 million. while iran pledged $100 million. the united states is sending food aid for nearly 350,000 people and medical assistance for half a million. on tuesday, japan's ambassador to pakistan visited national disaster management authority. he promised an additional $10

million in aid. on top of the $450,000 of assistance already announced. the head of the disaster management authority expressed his thanks. >> this is the first time that japan is on the forefront but it is always one of our most reliable friend. >> reporter: the region is facing a sanitary crisis that could lead to outbreaks of infectious diseases. in one province, some victims blocked roads in protest. >> translator: we want food but only people with connections are getting anything for people like us received no food and no tents.

>> reporter: last year severe floods killed more than 2,000 people. a year later, in large areas of the country are once again submerged. the crisis has exposed the government's inability to manage catastrophic events and criticism is getting larger at home. sayed, nhk world. >> in afghanistan two days after former president rabbani was assassinated the taliban has changed its position and now suggests that it was not responsible. experts say the reversal exposes a possible split within militant group of attitudes to peace talks. the taliban's new statement issued on website on wednesday, the group said previous media reports at the

assassination was the work of the taliban were baseless. it said its investigation is not yet complete and it is not prepared to comment. rabbani was a former afghan president and figure in peace negotiations with the taliban. he was killed by a suicide bomber on tuesday at his home in kabul. analysts say that confused statements by the taliban may reveal divisions within the group regarding the assassination of rabbani and policy on handling peace dialogue with the afghan government. in manila, officials and experts from asean are gathering to discuss a philippine proposal for resolving territorial disputes. among the group's members and china, over islands in the south china sea. nhk world's charmaine deogracias has details. >> reporter: the meeting began in manila thursday.

the philippines calls first for parties to agree the dispute be limited to islands including the spratleys and paracels, not the whole south china sea or west philippines sea as it is known here. it suggests a disputed areas be demilitant, demilitarize ed militarized and that countries undertake joint control. delegates are studying whether the proposals are in line with international laws such as the u.n. convention on the law of the sea. the philippine government wants to win approval for its plan at an asean summit scheduled for november. >> it is the philippines' hope that in due time asean and china can sit down together on this particular matter. >> reporter: the philippines is wary of china, which claims sovereignty over almost the entire south china sea region. china has been expanding

activity there using military vessels and fishing patrol boats. the philippines apparently wts to keep china in check by pushing forward its proposal with cooperation. from asean. charmaine deogracias, nhk world, manila. >> that's going to wrap up our bulletin. i'm pachari raksawong in bangkok. thanks, pachari. the top nuclear envoys from china and south korea met on thursday, in beijing. their discussions had been a day after the chief envoys of north and south korea talking about resuming the stalled six-party negotiations on the north's nuclear program. south koreaen delegate, wi sung-lac and wi met. china is trying to be the go-between for the two koreas.

it is aiming to resume the six-party talks by the end of the year. but north and south korea remain far apart, south korea says wednesday's talks did not make any progress. it reportedly stated that north must take concrete steps to denuclearize before discussions resume. the focus is now on north korea. and what action will propose to the united states regarding denuclearization. that meeting is expected to take place as early as next month. chinese government officials are speaking out about what they're calling a mistake by t united states. they strongly oppose a u.s. decision to help taiwan upgrade its aging fleet of f-16 fighter jets. they're warning that the deal could damage china/u.s. cooperation. u.s. assistant secretary of state, kurt campbell, announced on wednesday that the u.s. would not sell the new model of f-16s to taiwan. that's what china wanted. it didn't want this, though. the u.s. is now going to sell

taiwan radar systems, missiles and other equipment the hardware will help taiwan upgrade its existing fleet of 145 fighters. >> china is against any arm sales to taiwan. it considers that interference in its internal affairs. >> translator: the united states made a mistake. it is inevitable that the decision will damage military and security cooperation between china and the united states. >> foreign ministry spokesperson hong lei, hinted at the suspension of the china/u.s. military exchange. china did that last year to protest an american decision to sell arms to taiwan. bilateral ties chilled until january this year. there are fears the latest issue will damage china/u.s. relations again.

sumo day 12 of the autumn tournament from tokyo and we have an interesting business end of the basho coming up with hakuho still undefeated, and relative unknown gagamaru one behind the yokozuna, action time. kitataiki has two losses and is a silly hope to win the em pore pore's cup. wakakoyu starts with what he does best and try as pull-down. kitataiki keeps his feet, moves forward. the attempt for a slap-down continue and kitataiki stays focused and take waka over the edge. two losses still for kitataiki. it is unusual lately to have two rank-and-filers in the yushu race, but kitataiki's stablemate, is doing better. and they're both ranked. did gagamaru follow up from his big win yesterday against ozeki baruto?

kotoshogiku must recuss to keep his ozeki promotion hopes alive. gagamaru needs a strong pushing attack to keep up the momentum. they clash, but gagamaru is pushing only with the right hand and opens up for kotoshogiku to seize on the loss and he takes the buehrle georgian, ten wins for kotoshogiku, his hopes remain a possibility. hakuho almost lost yesterday but remains sole leader. kisenosato has beaten the yokozuna twice in the last year. kisenosato attacks from the left under the armpit as kisenosato keeps up the pressure and sets it up with a strong arm-lock throw which sends kisenosato flying. hakuho beaten on the day, but still holds the edge. now, after all that happened, let's go to day 12, the leaderboard.

hakuho still leads by one, but with a loss now. sekiwake kotoshogiku and rank and filers kitataiki and gagamaru had two losses. day 13 promises so much, with gagamaru taking on informed kisenosato and hakuho meeting kotoshogiku, i can guarantee the leaderboard will look different after tomorrow's action, so tune in to check it out. >> blew through honshu and is now still bringing some showers and some strong winds, still to the northeastern coast. but it is going to be a much better day tomorrow. now, while we look at the 72-hour rainfall accumulation, for areas in in tohoku affected

by the march 11th disaster, you see that very significant amounts of rainfall fell. ishinomaki saw 542 millimeters of rain in two days and this is going to be stopping along the eastern coast. but we still see showers for the western coast tomorrow. and any additional rainfall could really be a problem. while we see the runoff coming down from the mountains, there still is a high risk of flooding, landslides and mudslides as we go through the next few days, so we'll be keeping an eye on that situation. high pressure moving through across to the east, pushing into japan, it will be clearing a lot of things up, for many of us across western and central portions of japan. in the southwest we have ongoing rain and there is very significant flood problem here as well. that will continue, the rain will, anyway. some heavy in places into the weekend. we also have heavy rain for parts of eastern indochina, as well as northern parts of the philippines. temperatures set up like this for friday. 28 in beijing, a cool day for you relatively in shanghai, at 26.

looking for 26 also in tokyo. and hanging onto the 30's in manila and bangkok. let's go to north america and see what's happening in the tropics. tropical storm ophelia is moving further towards the west. now it looks like it's going to be veering just north of the leeward islands and also it doesn't show any signs of really intensifying. so good news here, one to watch certainly. but it doesn't look like it's going to be too much of an issue for the time being. it's tropical storm hilary that looks like it really is on its way to intensifying. it should become a hurricane within the next 12 hours. we have storm warnings issued along the southern coast of mexico here. storm surge, high waves and the winds and heavy rain are all going to be factors to watch into the coming days. even into early next week, it looks like the storm will be with us and perhaps even getting stronger. as we look at the bigger picture here, showers continuing in the southeast. we've got this long cold front which is going to be bringing more showers in towards the northeast and the mid-atlantic. it's going to be wet day on thursday. and even wetter on friday. so possibly seeing some flood

problems. cold across the north, but high and dry. and then out to the pacific northwest. yet another storm rolling in from the pacific will bring rain and some strong wind for you, too. 19 in vancouver, 22 in seattle, winnipeg in 14, your lows around zero for central canada as well as the northern plains. 34 meanwhile in houston, we're also seeing the 30s in miami at 32. all right as we head into europe, very messy still across northern parts of the uk. specifically it's going to be scotland getting all of the rain bands coming in. that heads up into parts of northern, i should say southern and western norway. and all the way across into finland as well. so very messy and unsettled. we may see a few showers popping up in the mountains of spain. but generally looking pretty good, apart from the showers also spreading right through turkey. temperatures are just about on average. but watch in the west, they will be going up by maybe three to five degrees into the weekend. here's your extended forecast.

that's our broadcast for this hour on "newsline," we'll be back with more news in half an hour. i'm michio kijima in tokyo. thank you for watching. bye-bye.

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