welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. torrential rains have lashed wide areas of japan. the record deluge has killed one person and left three others missing. japan's nuclear authority orders the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant to rae move highly contaminated

water from underground tunnels. as leaders in pyongyang celebrate the 60th anniversary of the korean war armistice, the world waits for kim jong-un to make his next move. a month's worth of rain fell in some parts of western japan on sunday. the downpour led to flooding and landslides. it killed one person with at least three others still missing. the deluge saw more than 100 pms of rain fall per hour in parts of yamaguchi prefecture. a 79-year-old woman died when her home collapsed. 200 millimeters of rain slashed the northern part of the prefecture. the downpour left many people stranded. residents in the northern part of hokkaido have also seen heavy rains. nhk world's masayo taqa reports on the disarray.

>> reporter: this is how the downpours have left the cities of haggi in the prefecture. leaning and covered in mud. this underpass is completely filled with sludge. towns are covered with mud and rocks. roads are strewn with logs, lumber and other debris. mudslides block train tracks. rescuers are searching for the missing, but their efforts are being hampered by the risk of landslides. a month's worth of rain fell in half a day in parts of yamaguchi and shimane prefectures. 138 millimeters of rain in a single hour on sunday. >> translator: i was recording it right before i fled. i heard that the water later overflowed.

>> reporter: the downpour stranded many people in the two prefectures. about 200 elementary school children were trapped at a campsite. they took shelter overnight at a nearby facility. self-defense force personnel picked them up in helicopters on monday morning. >> reporter: i'm relieved. >> translator: i am all right. i want to tell my family that i'm okay. >> reporter: floods also stranded a facility for the elderly in hagi, with nearly 80 people inside. >> translator: i was in the corridor facing the river. the river was swelling and it seemed to go higher than me. i was nervous. >> translator: the water broke the windows and came gushing in. i feared for my life. >> the staff closed the fire doors but water continued to

flood in. so they gave up trying to stop it. >> translator: we opened the doors so that the water could pass. we took refuge at a place where the water was not a danger. panic was the last thing we wanted so we kept telling each other it's going to be all right. >> reporter:s the residents gathered in a hall, but the water kept flowing in. the residents were asked to get on top of the beds that had been brought in, to wait for the water to subside. >> translator: i feared we may not make it. but the water stopped. i just wanted to get everyone to a safe place. >> reporter: all of the workers and residents were air-lifted to safety.

nhk world. for more, our meteorologist, robert speta joins us. robert? >> let's first start off by talking about what is really causing this heavy rainfall across japan today. now the main factor is this frontal area, we can see it on the satellite picture stretching from western japan to hokkaido. that's what's triggering the heavy rainfall. there's a few other things going into this, which is why we're seeing such incredible totals, we have this the high pressure to the south, pushing moisture around the western side of it onshore, so that's bringing all that moisture, causing the heavy rainfall. instability aloft, we have the cold air in the upper atmosphere, that causes the thunderstorms and then we start to see the high rain totals, not to mention the fact of the lifting out here. especially into western japan, out towards portions of western hanchu, these areas are

on the western slopes of the mountains, you get the moisture inflow pushing upslope, it squeezes it out like a sponge. ahead of the low pressure area, we have the moisture coming in off the pacific ocean, hitting southern hokkaido. going into tuesday and wednesday, what we're going to be seeing is the high pressure, i was talking about, starting to lift to the north. now most of the time that would improve the conditions, but what we're starting to see is the temperatures warm up, we're still going to have the instability in the atmosphere, so thunderstorms, rain showers are still a big threat out here and it's falling on already-saturated ground so there's still the risk of flooding and even landslides. japan's nuclear regulator has ordered the operator of fukushima daiichi plant to remove radioactive wastewater from underground tunnels. high levels of radioactivity has been reported since may.

the utility reported that contaminated water from the facility is leaking into the sea. the nuclear regulation authority told tokyo electric power company, that wastewater could seep through gravel under the tunnels. the water is believed to be coming from turbine buildings. the structures are highly contaminated, as large amounts of water have been used to cool nuclear fuel in nearby reactor buildings. tokyo electric says it will start injecting chemicals into the gravel to block the water. it says it will decontaminate the water by circulating it through a purifier from september and drain the tunnels from next april. the firm has yet to come up with measures to stop the original leak from the turbine buildings. it also has not found a site to store the drained water. north korean authorities celebrated the 60th anniversary of what they call victory day over the weekend. people filled the capital,

pyongyang, to commemorate the korean war armistice. kim jong un appeared on a balcony to salute a military parade. the chinese vice president stood beside him. analysts say the display was meant to show the two nations remain allies. they fought together in the korean war. the chinese leaders have recently reviewed their traditional friendship with the north. were critical of kim's regime for carrying out a nuclear test in february and they imposed economic sanctions. north korean leaders sent special envoy to beijing in may to try to repair relations. he's the director of the general political bureau of the korean people's army. observers expected kim jong un to address the nation at the ceremony in pyongyang, but it was the special envoy who gave the speech instead. insisting on the need for north korea to strengthen their

defense capability. experts spent the weekend interpreting the meaning of the ceremony. a professor of shizuoka university was one of them. >> if we compare with the previous speech, this year the speech is quite modest and conciliatory and it strongly indicated that now the kim jong un regime hopes to make some good relationship with the international community. if kim jong un would make a speech, for sure he shall make something special. some new initiative, that he should take it. so it mean that the he should declare the complete ending of the korean war and the secondly, he should propose some concrete idea of how to create a new peace mechanism on the korean peninsula. if we look at the speech of the special envoy this time, quite

changed. indicating that north korea would move to good relationship with the international community. but if north korea will return to the probitive action, probably we have to pay attention to the timing that the u.s. south korea exercise will be held around the end of august. north korea can use such military exercise, between the u.s. as kind of a good excuse for launching another type of provocation. south korean negotiators say they'll make a final offer in a dispute with their north korean counterparts that's lasted for months. the two sides have been trying to find some common ground on reopening a jointly run industrial zone. >> translator: we hope north korean officials will offer a solution so that this problem will not happen again. >> employees from both koreas

worked at the kaesong industrial complex. north koreans grew frustrated that south korean and u.s. troops were conducting joint military exercises. in april they pulled their 53,000 workers out. new urged the north koreans to offer up some solutions. he said south korean officials will have to make grave decision if leaders in pyongyang fail to respond to their proposals. but he said the south koreans will continue to provide humanitarian aid despite the stalemate. japanese government officials are condemning the action of a group of soccer fans in south korea, the fans took a jab at japan on sunday. at a match in seoul, displaying a banner that read "people who forget history have no future." japanese officials say they violated international rules that forbid the expression of political view at games. the fans put up the banner at a men's east asia cup match between japan and south korea.

they stopped cheering after they were forced to take it down during halftime. fans raised another banner that featured an image of an activist who resisted japanese rule a century ago. he assassinated japan's resident general of korea in 1909. he is still praised as a hero in south korea. japanese chief cabinet secretary yoshihide suga condemned the fan's action. >> translator: i felt deep regret when i learned that such a a banner was shown during an international game. >> suga says the government will take appropriate action once details of the incident are clarified. the korea football association says it warned the group of fans before the match, not to display the banner, as it could be seen as political. the association declined to say how the group called the red devils got the banner into the venue and why officials did not remove it until halftime.

world soccer governing body fifa bans fans and teams from making political statements during games. south korean soccer officials say fifa will decide whether the red devils violated the rule. cambodia's governing party led by the prime minister has declared victory in a general election. the people's party says they gained a majority of the seats opposition party, the cambodian national rescue party, on the other hand, has almost doubled the seats, they accuse han sen who has been in party for 28 years of being an autocrat. nhk senior commentator tells us about how the voters feel and the challenges that lie ahead. >> in the campaign, han sen's opponents gained momentum. one is the largest opposition party. they say hundred sen's policies are the opposite of their

democracy. last year they were ranked 143rd for press freedom. freedom in the press is guaranteed by the 1993 constitution, but the journalists often face persecution under a 1995 law that bans reports deemed to threaten political stability. the opposition also argued that independence of the judiciary is under threat because most judges have close ties to the ruling party. the ruling party is well organized nationwide, and they mobilize government in election campaigns to gain more votes. it should be noted that the voters apparently continue to give hundred sen and his party credit for the achievement of the past 20 years and conflict continued among warring parties even after the end of the decade of the civil war.

hun sen -- consequently the nation's security once to be the worst in southeast asia has improved. cambodia has received aid from japan, china and other members when international community to build infrastructure and achieve economic growth. cambodia still needs global assistance, foreign donors make tough demands, including an end to corruption. hun sen appears mined for international criticism. china is becoming a more important donor. premier wen jiabao agreed to provide economic assistance of $329 billion when he visited last year. china seems keen to gain greater influence that is a social concern when it comes to promote democratic values. eliminating poverty remains a critical issue. the government places high

priority on improving the lives of their rural poor who make up 70,000 of the population -- 70% of the population. cambodia's deputy prime minister had this to say -- >> we aim at exporting one million ton of price by 2015. what we need now is how to mill, so we need a lot of investment to request that countries invest in a rice mill. so they need so they need a lot of financing. hun sen has given no sign that he intends to relinquish power any time soon. another key challenge for his

next term is to make sure that the benefits of cambodia's economic are better distributed. the prime minister will need to pay even more attention to those issues before he seeks yet another term in the next election in five years' time. bank of japan governor kuroda says the tax hike is unlikely to significantly hurt economic growth. the 5% levy is due to be raised to 8% in april next year. and to 10% in 2015. >> translator: in view of the government's need to win trust in its fiscal policies, it is very important to establish a sustainable fiscal structure. >> he said members of the central bank's policy board don't believe the tax hike will

have a large impact on the economy or on consumption. the governor also said the bold monetary easing steps the boj introduced in april have helped the economy pick up. he cited higher stock prices on improved outlook for business sentiment and a pickup in personal consumption. 130 people in taiwan have reported skin problems after using skin whitening products made by japan's kanebo cosmetics. kanebo has been recalling its skin whitener since earlier this month. it received complaints from customer who is said they had developed white blotches after using the firm's products. in taiwan, kanebo's sales agent has reported similar problems among customer, adding they are receiving medical treatment. the agent says it has recalled about 60,000 of the products. but several tens of thousands haven't yet been returned. it's calling on customers to stop using the products.

>> consumers in taiwan have been happy to use japanese cosmetics. because they believe they are safe. we will try to regain their trust. >> taiwan is kanebo's overseas market, it accounts for 30% of the country's international sales. the agent says sales in taiwan have dropped 20% since kanebo announced the problems. here are the latest market figures.

many people who live in areas of japan hit by disaster find they are losing hope. they're not happy with the pace of reconstruction after the earthquake and tsunami two years ago. and some feel life will never be the same. some have turned to alcohol to ease their pain. nhk has their story. >> reporter: this man in his 60s lives alone in a temporary housing unit in ishinomaki, miyagi prefecture. he lost his wife and suffered insomnia. he dealt with his loneliness by drinking. he ended up drinking from morning to night. at times, he would finish off four liters, about a gallon of hard licker in one day.

>> translator: i drank and drank, because i wanted to die. i felt guilty for letting my wife go first. i felt sorry. and there was nothing i could do, so i drank. >> reporter: this man is a clinical saijo therapist of the he's part of a counseling group for people with drinking problems. over time, he helped the man in temporary housing take control of his drinking. on his recommendation, he joined meetings with other who is sh e shared the same problem. through talking with them, he decided he couldn't keep living as he was. whenever he felt like having a drink, he called the group for support. >> translator: i called them every day for a year.

i talked about things like how i drank again and basically, complained about everything. they never failed to listen to >> for now, he has stopped drinking. he says he was able to do so because the group was there for him until he was able to quit. >> translator: the most important thing is the individual's determination, we try to encourage him or her by listening to whatever they need to say. >> reporter: in 2010, the year before the earthquake, doctors at this hospital diagnosed an average of around 24 people each month as alcoholics. in 2012, the number jumped to nearly 29. doctors feared a number of people with drinking problems in the disaster-hit areas will rise.

>> translator: they have nothing to live for, they've lost everything they've worked all their lives for and they feel a great sense of emptiness. >> reporter: reconstruction in the region has been slow, and the number of alcoholics is growing. therapists such as shibua are trying to keep pace with the growing social threat. ayana shimizu, nhk world,ish noh maki. heavy showers across southeast asia. our meteorologist robert speta joins us once again with the report. >> we were talking about the heavy rainfall in towards northeastern asia. but down to the south we have a tropical depression moving across the philippines. it is triggering up heavy showers, even the risk of flooding and landslides out here. you can see on the satellite, the broad area of cloud cover pushing to the northwest. not really an intense storm system, it's not organized at all. but there is the center of circulation and it is continuing

to push the moisture onshore across portions of luzon, down towards versai, risk of flooding, landslides, 100 to 200 millimeters could be expected in the next 24 hours. also bringing in the southwest monsoon over the indochina peninsula. portions of northern thailand will be seeing the risk of flooding as it pushes to the west and the tropical depression works to the north. north of that things are on the hot side across chongqing, shanghai, 37 and 38 for you. northeastern china, on the other hand, some areas could see about 100 millimeters of rainfall going into tuesday. even out towards wednesday, even seoul will be seeing some showers, it's the stationary boundary, the same one bringing the flooding rains across much of northern japan. et cetera let's look at the americas, we have the monsoonal flow coming in off the pacific here and that's been triggering the showers much of the southwest. right now we have this disturbance there into the plains, coming off the central rockies. in portions of kansas, oklahoma,

you could see 48 millimeters of rainfall as it pushes through. pushing to the east, we have this high pressure in the great lakes and then a low pressure moving out through ontario and quebec. now the high pressure is the big story with this. we are seeing the rain showers, the thunderstorms ahead of it. but what it did, it's bringing in the cooler air from the north. and northern minnesota, during the early morning hours on monday, we actually had frost advisories in effect out here. here in late july. temperature getting down near the freezing mark. the good news, as far as the forecast, temperatures are now getting back up there into the mid 20s. now as we take a look towards europe, we still have the thunderstorms flaring up here as well. across portions of france, extending towards germany. we've been seeing large hail reported here. the threat is still going to be there. we have the warm temperatures out ahead of the low pressure area, which is now developing, pushing off towards the east. actually heat advisories in effect in many places out here. cooler air working behind. and about 10 to 15-degree drop

with the cold front pushing through, making stuff very unstable. even the threat of tornadoes out here in portions of central europe. extending down towards the northern balkan peninsula. and large hail and damaging winds coming out of this possibly as it pushes east. still supported by the upper-level jet, that's key with keeping this very unstable and the warm temperatures pushing in from the south. a wet and cooler air, that is also bringing some heavy showers across portions of the british isle, it will be rather persistent. but it's much cooler towards the west. london with only a high of 20 on tuesday. paris at 24, out ahead of the front, the temperatures up into the high 20s, even towards the 30s, even farther east. good news like i said, these cooler temperatures will start to warm back up. as we go into latter part of the work week. that's a look at the world weather, here's the extended forecast.

that's "newsline" for this

hour, i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us. until next time.

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♪ in this episode of "tomorrow" a french journalist gathers information on post-disaster japan. david zavaglia appears on many scientific tv programs in france. with a doctorate in molecular biology. immediately after the 3/11 earthquake, he began visiting japan documenting to convey information to the french public.