hello, and welcome back to nhk world "newsline." a north korean special envoy has hinted at the return of six party talks. state run media in china is quoted as saying they're willing to resolve problems through various forms of dialog. the director of the gent political bureau of the army. president xi told them chinese leaders want the resumption of the six party talks on north korea's nuclear program. he wants the leaders of all six

countries to try to denuclearize the peninsula. north korean officials are willing to resolve problems through various dialogs for peace and stability on the korean peninsula. the comment would mark a reversal for north korea. officials in pyongyang have repeatedly said they would never return to the circumstance party talks. of drones barak obama has launched a defense of a target i'm encouraged from the democratic people's republic of korea. i think this is a positive stance will be followed by active implementation.

>> he praised china's leaders for building momentum through bilateral talks. >> i'm ready to do whatever i can in fostering this momentum. >> operations at heathrow airport in london are back to normal after a scare in the sky. 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 captured video footage. it shows the plane's left engine cover had opened. some media reports say one of the plane's engines may have sucked in a bird. british airways spokespersons say a full investigation is under way. the air bus a-319 left heathrow bound for oslow. no injuries have been reported.

the man who claimed to have master mounded the raid on an algerian gas plant in january may still be active. a statement attributed to the man says he was involved with the terror attacks this week in niger. attacks were carried out on a mine. they were run by a french firm and a military camp. they killed at least 20 people. the news agency in mauritania reports a man issued a statement claiming responsibility. the report says the man claimed the attacks were retaliation for killing of an islamist leader. and it says he's threatening more attacks.

japanese officials will take part in free trade talks for the first time. they'll have limited information. government officials from 11 asia pacific countries wrapped up their latest tpp talks in peru. they agreed to meet again in malaysia from july 15th through 25th. this means that japanese officials will only be able to take part for the last three days. still, negotiators from other countries say they're glad the japanese will be involved. >> we're aware that japan would like to take part in the july round and we believe that that can be arranged. >> japanese negotiators will also have to work with limited information. they can't access documents on past negotiations before they take part in the talks. japanese leaders plan to send officials to participating countries to gather information. >> japan's prime minister shinzo

abe is trying to build ties in myanmar. he is the first japanese leader to visit the country in 36 years. he will then head to the capital. he will meet the president and urge to psh more for democracy and reconciliation with ethnic minorities. he plans to say japanese leaders are ready to use their overseas aids budget for power and water. he is accompanied by executives from about 40 japanese firms that want to sign agreements with business people. the seas of southeast asia

scientists have carried out survey after survey to monitor the impact of the nuclear accident at fun sheema fukushim. the surveys give a clear picture of the contaminated areas. but tracking radioactive fallout in the ocean is much more complicated. nhk has been given exclusive access to the latest research effort. so first, here is a snapshot of where things stand at sea. >> fukushima daiichi is located on the pacific coast. after the meltdown, many scientists estimated that most of the fallout ended up in the ocean. but now radiation levels near the plant are thought to be low. it's thought that the radio

active particles in the water have disbursed. in fact, in areas over one kilometer from the plant, radioactivity is almost undetectable. the japanese government is lifting entry bands in waters off of fukushima. the off-limit zone 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 radioactive materials. in august, a fish showing radio activity 250 times above the government safety limit was caught near the sea floor. the percentage of marine samples exceeding the limit remains above 10% of the total caught off fukushima. fishing in waters off 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. their goal was to find out why fish retain high levels of radiation. >> it's a very mysterious thing. 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. this device consists of 24 cylinders. they remotely sank it and controlled each cylinder by remote control. to collect water samples at different depths. the company responsible for fukushima daiichi says 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 collect 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 organisms near the sea floor and the fish that eat them. >> the scientists use a device called a core to gather samples from the sea bottom. they cut the samples into one-centimeter slices to analyze the radiation levels in each layer. the next step is examining sample after sample. they will map the contamination and try to determine how it spreads.

there is another dimension to the study. one researcher from the u.s. is looking for traces of an element called radium. it's a radioactive isotope that would mark the presence of ground water. hundreds of tons of ground water are seeping into the nuclear plant every day. >> we want to use the radium isotope in the coastal sea to quantify 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 group worked day and night gathering samples. they view this as a rare opportunity to find out the mechanism of radioactive contamination in the ocean and contribute to the environmental safety to the region.

they collect every single sample possible during the mission. >> this is quite a unique accident in the past history of radioactive 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 looking across to what's happening on this side. it becomes international very quickly. every ocean question is international. because the waters move across boundaries. they don't care whose waters they are. so i think we need to be involved. >> 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 impact of one of the world's worst nuclear accidents. nhk world, off fukushima, japan. engineers are getting ready to apply a new tool to a growing problem. they're testing a system to decontaminate waste watter that is accumulating at a rate of hundreds of tons a day. they hope to put it in full operation this autumn. officials gave the nuclear regulation authority a report on the test. they said the system is running well. the advanced liquid processing system can remove 62 types of material. radioactive material. tepco has three such systems. engineers have been testing one since late march. regulators gave tepco permission to test the two systems in the middle of next month. about 400 tons of contaminated water accumulate every day.

engineers hope to see all of the decontamination at full capacity as soon as possible. members of a government research panel in japan say it's highly likely a powerful earthquake will strike the country in the next four years. they've revised forecast for the magnitude 8 to 9 tremor expected off the traffic coast. experts issued their latest projections for quakes originating from the nankai trough. the 900 kilometer undersea zone runs from central to western japan. one tectonic plate descends blow another in the trough. the experts say there is a 20% chance of a quake in the next ten years. they say it's 40 to 50% in the next 20 years, and 60 to 70% in the next 30 years. according to our research, it's highly likely that a quake of a magnitude eight will occur

on the trough in the next few decades. the chair of the committee is calling on authorities to prepare for possible earthquakes and tsunami, but the scientist could not make predictions for a quake higher than magnitude nine. they say that no records exist of a tremor of that size over the past few thousand years. thousands of residents are still waiting to go home. vast tracks of land waiting to be restored. and more than half of the fishing ports on the pacific coast must be rebuilt. people in northeastern japan still face challenges following the 2007 disaster. step by step, they are moving

forward every wednesday on "the road ahead." right here on "newline." doctors are overwhelmed by work. officials say per capita, the number amounts to less than half of the practitioners in cities. this woman's husband always travels with her because of her chronic leg ailment. here she visits a doctor. she is checking up on an elderly woman who can't leave her bed.

though this is almost every day. >> translator: i can't walk so the doctor's house calls are a tremendous help. i'm so grateful. >> translator: it's not easy traveling all the way here. but when i see the villagers' smiling faces, it feels worth while. >> about 3,000 people live in the north village. two of every three residents here are in their 60s or older. so a lot of them find they need more medical treatment. she has been the village's only doctor for more than 20 years. after acquiring her doctor's license, she returned to her home village to open a clinic.

when she was 8 months old, a congenital illness caused her left leg to become paralyzed. at the time, the villagead no hospital or clinic. so her parents carried her on their backs to a hospital in a neighboring town. >> translator: i didn't want anyone to go through what i experienced. that's why i decided to become a doctor. i want to treat people in this village who have disabilities or illnesses. >> the endless days of work are taking their toll on her body. she knees medical care herself. her husband worries about her health. >> translator: as my wife gets older, she gets more tired. of course i worry about her

strength. i do whatever i can to support her. >> reporter: recently, she had to stay in the hospital to receive treatment for her leg. the village couldn't find a doctor to fill in for her. she went back to work the day after she was discharged from the hospital. locals worry that without her, they would lose their medical service. >> translator: doctors wouldn't come here because of the low wages and poor working conditions. i'm asking the government to do more for the health care of rural villagers. >> i feel rejuvinated when i see my patients smile.

i'm determined to continue working for people here. authorities need to take action to improve the situation in rural areas. >> earlier we spoke with a reporter and asked them if villages with only one doctor are common in china. >> a survey shows as of last year in the countryside, there were 1.3 doctors for every 1,000 resident. in fact, some have no doctor at all. also, it's very evident there is a trend among medical students to avoid setting up a practice and farming villages. the med students are entitled to

choose which hospital to work for when they graduate. so many facilities are in urban areas. that's no surprise. after all, working conditions are better there. and promising career path awaits them. china's medical system needs a major reform. the seas of southeast asia are homes of small ethnic groups continuing their traditional way of life. they live in small call olonies built over the ocean. modern civilization is transforming their way of life. we report from a remote island. >> reporter: the island lies a full 2,000 kilometers east of the capital jakarta. one of the world's largest coral

reefs spreads out from its coast. the water is so clear around the reef that divers can see fish swimming 20 meters away. the people who live over the sea have built a settlement near the island. this man is 43 years old. he dives for fish using handmade equipment. >> translator: our family members help each other out while fishing. >> reporter: we went under water with him to see him at work. his only equipment is a pair of goggles. but this is enough. he skillfully uses his feet to maneuver through the water 10 meters below the surface. he spots a fish and approaches

it with his breath held. >> translator: life in the sea suits me just fine. living on land is simply impossible for me. >> reporter: the people dive almost every day and earn their living from what they catch.

but they say traditional fishing vessels can't provide a comfortable life. the children here are so busy helping their parents that they can't go to school. but people in other areas have turned to a more modern way of life. this district is home to about 7,000 people. it was built on reclaimed land. behaved roads now connect it with the island. water and electricity services are available. and life here is as convenient

as on land. the people here have each other and fish. they purchased a boat with an engine and adopted the modern way of fishing that uses a net. the district has a seafood processing plant too. >> translator: this is tuna. we're exporting it to japan and europe. >> reporter: the water processing company and exports seafood. he earns a stable income. and his house is equipped with electric appliances. he enjoys a level of comfort equal to people living on land. but he has no intention of moving. >> translator: i'm happy living on the sea. it feels natural to me to have a boat docked in front of our house. >> reporter: the people have always made the most of what the sea gives them. modernization may be changing their lifestyle. nhk world, indonesia.

next, let's take a brief look at the market figures. and next, here's a three-day outlook on the world's weather.

and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline." from all of us at nhk world, thanks for watching and have a good day wherever you are.

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