hello there. welcome to "newsline." it's tuesday, july 30th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. supporters of egypt's old ruler show little in the fight with the country's new leaders. followers of mohamed morsi say they intend to defy government orders to abandon their protests. europe's top diplomat has flown in on a mission to pull the two sides back from floor bloodshed.

european union foreign policy chief catherine ashton is making her second visit in two weeks. she met with interim president adly mansour, foreign minister nabil fahmy and the muslim brotherhood. egypt's military leaders overthrew morsi at the beginning of the month and installed a new government. his supporters have turned out for repeated protests demanding that he be reinstated. security forces moved in again over the weekend to clear the streets. 80 people were killed. but morsi supporters say they're not going anywhere. a wave of car bombings has killed at least 48 people in ir iraq. local security authorities say sunni extremists may be behind the coordinated attacks. ten blasts rocked the capital of baghdad about 90 minutes from around 8:00 a.m. on monday. car bombs also went off at nearly the same time at three locations in the city of kut and

samawah in the south. the blast killed at least 48 people and injured about 220. all the explosions took place in districts with many shia muslim residents at crowded places such as markets and bus stops. sunnis have been increasingly frustrated with the shia-controlled government op prime minister nuri al maliki. militaries from the two sides have been exchanging attacks. an ngo monitoring terrorist activity in iraq says the death toll has already topped 830. a month's worth of rain fell in some parts of western japan on sunday. the downpour led to flooding and landslides that killed one person with at least three others still missing. the deluge saw more than 100 millimeters of rain per hour fall on parts af yamaguchi and shimane prefectures. a woman died when her home in yamaguchi collapsed. more than 200 millimeters of

rain lashed the coastal region in 24 hours. the water level of rivers has been rising in areas further north and there's a danger of flooding. nhk world's masaki otake reports on the disarray. >> reporter: this is how the downpours have left the city of hagi in yamaguchi prefecture. the threat of flood waters have left houses leaning and covered in mud. this underpass is completely filled with sludge. towns are covered with mud and rocks. roads are strewn with car, lumber and other debris. mud slides block train tracks. rescuers are searching for the missing, but their efforts are being hampered by the risks of landslides. a month's worth of rain fell in half a day in parts of yamaguchi and shimany prefectures.

hagi city marked a record breaking 138 millimeters of rain in a single hour through noon on sunday. >> translator: i was recording it right before i fled. i heard that the water later overflowed. >> reporter: the downpours stranded many people in the two prefectures. about 200 elementary school children were trapped at a camp site. they took shelter overnight at a nearby facility. self-defense force personnel picked them up in helicopters on monday morning. >> translator: i'm relieved. >> translator: i'm all right. i want to tell my family that i'm okay. >> reporter: floods also stranded the 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 it was higher than me. i was nervous. >> translator: the water broke the windows and came gushing in. i feared for my life. >> reporter: the staff closed the fire doors. the 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 wasn't a danger. panic was last thing we wanted, so we kept telling each other, it's going to be all right. it's going to be all right. >> reporter: the residents gathered in a hall but 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 residents and workers were airlifted to safety. masaki ohtake, nhk world. japan's nuclear regulator has ordered the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant to remove radioactive waste water from underground tunnels. high levels of radioactivetivety have been detected in wells at the site and an adjacent port since may. the utility admitted last week that contaminated water from the facility is leaking into the sea. the nuclear regulation authority told tokyo electric power company that waste water could seep through gravel under the tunnels. the water's 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 decome tam nature the water by circulating it through a purifier from september until next april. they have to come up with measures to stop the original leak from turbine buildings and 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 facing kim il sung square to salute a military parade. chinese vice president stood beside him. the allies fought together in the korean war. but chinese leaders have reviewed their traditional friendship with the north.

they were critical of kim's regime for carrying out a nuclear test in february and they imposed economic sanctions. north korean leaders sent a special envoy to beijing in may to repair relations. observers expected kim jong un to address the nation at that time ceremony in pyongyang, but he gave a speech instead. he insisted on the need for north korea to strengthen its defense capability. they spent the weekend interpreting the meaning of the ceremony. a professor from the university of shizuoka was among them. >> the speech was very much modest to the international community. because if we compare with his previous year's speech, this year's speech is quite modest and constrained and it strongly indicated that now the kim jong

regime hopes to make good relationship with the international community. if kim jong un would make a speech, surely he would make something special. so some new initiative. so it means that he should be clear and complete on the korean war and propose some idea of how to create a new mechanism on the korean peninsula. if we look at the speech this time, different, much changed. much more indicated that north korea would move to a good relationship with the international community, but if north korea will return to the provocative action, probably we have to pay some attention at the u.s. exercise will be held at the end of august. north korea can use such a military exercise between the u.s. and the uk as a good excuse

for launching another type of provocation. 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 who read a people who forget history have no future. japanese officials say they violated international rules that forbid the expression of political views at games. the fans put up a 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 at halftime. they featured an image of an activist who resisted japanese rule a century ago. he assassinated japan's resident general in korea. he's still praised as a hero in south korea.

yoshihide suga condemned it. >> translator: i felt deep regret when i learned that such a banner was shown during an international game. >> he said his 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. the world soccer governing body fifa bans players and fans from making political statements during games. south korean soccer officials say fifa will decide whether the red devils violated the rule. a senior beijing official has poured cold water over the japanese prime minister's call for dialogue. she said shinzo abe is using empty slogans. china's stayed media reported comments by the foreign ministry

spokes pers spokesperson hua chunying. she said they should not use international rhetoric to cover up differences. abe on saturday said he hoped chinese and japanese officials could meet as soon as possible without conditions. japanese vice foreign minister a akitaka saiki is in beijing to visit his chinese court part. japanese and chinese leaders have been at odds over the senkaku islands. jpen controls the islands but china and taiwan claim them. chinese leaders have moved to show the world they're transparent about military matters. commanders invited 70 foreign journalists into a base for a rare visit. reporters from japan and europe entered the site outside xian in shanxi province on monday. they watched a drill ahead of army day this week. army personnel role played a scenario that enemy planes were attacking china.

they used older equipment in the demonstration, but didn't bring out new ground-to-air missiles known to be deployed at the base. officials say the newer devices are being used in training sessions elsewhere. chinese leaders are planning to boost their military but they've kept quiet on the details of their defense budget. >> taiwan's defense minster has resigned. kao hua-chu stepped down after the public outcry over the death of a young soldier. hung chung-chiu died of heat stroke at the beginning of this month. officer had forced him to exercise vigorously and denied him water. they were punishing him for bringing a mobile phone with a camera on to the base. they later found that surveillance video from the detention site may have been tampered with. taiwanese leaders planinsight o and southeast asia every weekday "live from bangkok" only on nhk "newsline." oil that leaked from a

pipeline on the southeast coast of thailand has reached a beach resort popular with international tourists. authorities declared a disaster zone in nearby areas and are working to clean up the spill. 50,000 leaders of crude leaked into the ocean over the weekend. oil washed ashore on the island of samet, famous for its white sandy beaches. tourists were warned to stay away from the affected area. state-owned oil company tpp chemical detected the leak when a ship offshore was being transferred to the pipeline on saturday. an official says about 300 workers were hurrying to remove the oil. navy vessels have joined the cleanup operation. they say that oil spill management experts have arrived from singapore. about 5,000 liters still need to be cleared. in 2009, a ptt affiliate company was involved in australia's

worst off shore drilling accident spilling thousands of gallons of crude oil into the timor sea. 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 early this month. the complaints came from commerce who said they developed white blotches after using the firm's products. a sales agent reports that customers are now 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. >> translator: consumers in taiwan have been happy japanese cosmetics because they believe they're safe. we will try to regain their

trust. >> taiwan is kanebo's largest overseas market and accounts for nearly 30% of the company's international sales. the agent says sales in taiwan have dropped 20% since kanebo announced the problems. the people at bmw have launched their first fully electric vehicle. they're hoping to rev up a market that has been slow to take off. the german carmaker unveiled its i-3 hatchback at simultaneous events in new york, beijing and london. they'll be able to drive 130 to 160 kilometers on a single charge. they'll be able to reach speeds of up to 150 kilometers per hour. japanese suppliers produced the carbon fiber body. it's nearly 300 kilograms lighter than bmw's conventional hatchbacks. they'll release the car in europe in november and then in other markets early next year.

ceo norbert reithofer predicted that sales will rise steadily. police are hunting for the man behind a daring robbery on the french rivera. the armed thief swiped more than $50 million in jewels from a hotel in cannes. investigators say the man burst into a jewelry exhibition at the hotel on sunday and waved a pistol. he escaped with a haul of diamonds and other precious stones. witnesses say he was wearing a cap and a scarf to cover his face. police say he didn't fire any shots. the resort city of cannes on the mediterranean coast has ab favorite target for jewel thieves. robbers made off with $3 million in precious stones in two separate incidents in may during the cann international film festival. everyone looks at plants, they're all around us, but not everyone cease them the same way. a veteran photographer documents

plants capturing them down to their finest details. >> reporter: mushroom spores streaming and swirling through the air. they're ordinary edible mushrooms. just as you'd find on sale at any japanese supermarket. but these images show them in a way that is extraordinary. that's the way he sees the world. he's 82 now and has been a plant photographer for over 40 years. his work focuses on the plants he finds growing around his h e home. his photographs seem to capture the inner life force of plants and fungi. his work has won high praise not only in japan but abroad. he's published over 30 books and field guides.

he was already past 75 when he started using video. his aim was to shed more light on plants and their complex processes. here he has captured a horsetail plant as it is releasing its spores. to capture this process, he used time lapse photography taken over the course of a whole day. the spores seem to spill out of the plant like a stream of foam. >> translator: these are things i can't express in words. that's why i do all i can to capture them in photographs. >> reporter: at this time of year there is one thing in particular that hany likes to focus on. these droplets aren't morning dew. this is the sap of the plant

exuded after building up during the night. it's a process called glitation. the size of the drops varies according to the temperature and the humidity. hany goes out with his camera every morning looking for the biggest, most beautiful droplets. for hany ciubou, the challenge is to see and capture the secret life of plants. >> translator: i don't have any fixed philosophy about taking the photographs. all i want to do is capture images of life. >> reporter: hany says the mysteries of plant life are visible to anyone. you just need the desire to look. it is that curiosity and vision that underlies his photography. time now for a check on the weather with meteorologist sayaka moriy. as we mentioned earlier, people

in western and central areas of japan dealing with torrential rain, flooding and landslides. the situation in those areas seem quite extreme. >> yeah, one day after a deluge of heavy rain hit western japan, central japan was hit the hardest yesterday, but 100 millimeters of rain in just one hour in some places. it looks like the worst of it is over, but some areas like ishikawa, niigata and shimane prefectures are still seeing quite heavy rain. lots of heavy rain about 150 millimeter is possible and the wet conditions will likely linger for the next several hours. so the risk of flooding and landslides still exists for the next several hours. now, the same frontal system which is causing quite heavy rain for japan is situated over east central china producing lots of heavy rain and some of the heavy rain will also spread to the northern area of south korea today as seoul will probably get 150 millimeters of rain and towards the south a

tropical disturbance and monsoon are creating heavy rain for much of the indo china peninsula and a tpical depression is still lingering over the south china sea with stormy conditions for the west coast of the philippines for the next couple of days. temperatures are cooling down in the upper 20s in manila, 29 degrees for you, but heating up once again in central parts of china. 39 in hangzhou, 39 in chongqing and soaring to 31 in tokyo on wednesday. over towards the central pacific, i think beach goers and tourists could be disappointed because they have to stay inside due to an incoming tropical storm. flossie is expected to move through the hawaiian islands on monday into tuesday. now the big island and maui are experiencing the stormy conditions at this moment, and the islands of kauai and oahu, home to honolulu, will be

affected tonight. the main threats will be drenching rain, 150 millimeters at mos anduite hhurf a ll a songewi. fartr towards the eas over to north america, there's a risk of severe weather for parts of the u.s. including kansas, oklahoma as well as missouri. the severe weather will continue into monday night. and on tuesday, the similar situation will occur in the northern plains. cool temperatures still exist in the great lakes region. 24 in chicago, but still hot in the south. now finally across europe, we talked about excessive heat across central europe last week, t this time across the east. i want to show you this video. people in southeastern europe are still feeling some intense heat. a thermometer in the romanian capital of bucharest showed up to 41 degrees. authorities are advising people to stay indoors and drink plenty of water. now in serbia, many people

headed to a lake. authorities had switched on the misters, but while many were soaking up race, emergenys, eme workers reported an increase in those arriving with heat stroke. we have a frontal system which is driving cool air from the west. so temperatures in bucharest, 39 on tuesday, but that could go down to 29 degrees on wednesday. however, the heat is expected to rebuild across the west once again, so it looks like the hot conditions could be for parts of europe. that's it for now. here's the extended forecast.

there's one more story to share with you before we go. baseball players and fans in new york gathered to give a heavy hitter a high profile send-off. the yankees held a retirement ceremony for japan's hideki matsui. team captain derek jeter gave matsui a framed jersey with his old number, 55. matsui last played for the tampa bay rays, but he signed a one-day contract with the yankees just before the ceremony so he could officially end his reer with the team. yankee managers praised matsui's performance. he played with the team for seven years from 2003.

he capped off the ceremonies by making the ceremonial first pitch before the start of the yankees/rays game. some of his fans flew in from japan for the event. matsui told nhk the ceremony was unforgettable. matsui said he felt as happy as he was during his playing days. and that is all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us. n

dvd. >> good afternoon. please find a seat. everybody. here we go. we have an overflow crowd. that is because this program will be so good. the movable feast continues. this is the third of a series of activities celebrating woodrow