hello, and welcome back to nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in to goy. syrian leaders are taking steps to give up their chemical weapons. ment ba smar al assad has endorsed a proposal. and he said his country is applying for membership in the international treaty that outlaws such weapons.

assad made the comments in an interview with russia's state-run tv channel and outlined the government's plan to hand over the stockpile to international monitors but said u.s. leaders need to stop threatening to attack his country. >> translator: within days, our government will start the necessary procedures to join the chemical weapons convention. >> assad said members of his government will hand over information on their stock pooips a month after they sign the treaty but said they won't follow through until the u.s. stops threatening syria and stops supplying weapons to what we called terrorists. members of his regime commonly used the term when refers to opposition forces. u.s. secretary of state john kerry has demanded that assad follow through on his promises. he traveled to genevato go over the russian plan with foreign minister sergey lavrov.

>> it has to be verifiable. it has to be credible. it has to be timely and implemented in a timely fashion. >> translator: i'm convinced our american colleagues as president obama stated, firm live believe we should stlooif for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in syria. >> lavrov and kerry are discussing the feasibility of the plan and how to carry it out. kerry said there's nothing standard about the process because the syrian regime used chemical weapons on its own citizens and said the words of the regime are not enough. syrian opposition says government fighter jets bomb aid temporary hospital and the alleged attack left at least 12 people dead and more than 30 wounded. the air strike reportedly occurred on wednesday afternoon in the northern city, a clip poemsed on a video-sharing

website showed many people trying to rescue those trapped under a collapsed building. in the civil war, scores of hospitals have been destroyed or forced to close due to a lack of doctors. the temporary hospital bombed on wednesday had been funded by civilian donations. and opposition activists told us that the same hospital had previously come under attack. the activists added that although the international community is debating the chemical weapons' issue, casualty numbers in general will continue to rise unless nationwide air raids are stopped. a major u.s. newspaper says the central intelligence agency has begun delivering weapons to opposition fighters in syria. "the washington post" reported on its website on wednesday that the shipments of munitions began stwrooirnling into the syria two weeks ago and says the weapons are being delivered along with communication's equipment and medical supplies and they flow through u.s. bases in turkey and

jordan. the obama administration promised lethal assistance to syria's opposition fighters back in june. but it reportedly dragged its feet out of fear anywhere aid could wind up in the hands of units with linkles to al qaeda. an iranian envoy to the international atomic agency says his country has a strong political will to krukly d ll l strongly discuss the program. >> we will continue to cooperate with the agency in good faith. to find -- to overcome existing issues once and for all. >> he made the remark on thursday at the regular board meeting of the aiea in vienna and the envoy stressed that iran's new government is ready to faithfully engage with the international community and remove any ambiguity about nuclear activities. he also said officials from the

agency and iran should discuss their differences frankly and directly at the takes, to be held late in september. he added iran hopes the differences can be resolved. western nations are displaying a certain degree of optimism for iran's change in attitude. however, he reiterated that iran's nuclear development is designed for peaceful purposes. observers say tehran has not significantly shifted its stance and say finding a consensus will be difficult in the upcoming talks. u.s. researchers say a north korean nuclear reactor that had been shut down for years may be back up and running. the researchers say the facility is capable of creating weapons' grade plu totoniuplutonium. it shows the reactor north of the capital pyongyang and the reactor generates power but the scientists can use the spent

fuel to make plutonium. it shows steam rising from a building believed to house turbines and they say the color and amount of steam suggests the reactor is working. north korean official blew up the reactor as part of international as part of their program but in april they announced plans to restart the facility. u.s. and japanese officials have said that the reported react evaluation of north korea's nuclear reactors is a matter of concern. they agreed to continue monitoring the country's moves. u.s. special envoy on north korea and the director of the japanese foreign ministries and ocean affairs bureau met in tokyo. davies re-affirmed that pyongyang needs to take concrete action toward denuclearization before the talks can be held and agreed the governments will continue to press the north to observe u.n. resolutions that call for abandoning its nuclear

program. >> if it turns out these reports are true, that north korea has restarted the five megawatt plutonium or reactor, this would be a very serious matter. >> davies said the north wants to discuss its right to possess nuclear weapons at the six-party talks and said that's unacceptable for the u.s. armed rebels in the southern philippines continue to hold does defense of civilians hostage. thursday was the fourth day of this standoff on the island. now the insurgents are demanding independence from the predominantly catholic country. afp reports that rebels from the national liberation front or mnlf opened fire on thursday as government forces tried to approach. the confrontation began earlier

this week when 180 militants landed on the island. the militants are holding does defense of civilians hostage, possibly as many as 180. at least 12 people have died and 13,000 are taking refuge at the stadium. the government of philippines president last october reached an agreement with the larger rival militant group known as the islamic liberation front. they fledged to create an autonomous government in muslim-dominated areas by 2016. but the mnlf opposed the deal. armed conflicts since the 1970s have killed more than 60,000 people and forced 2 million from their homes. the island has been left behind as other parts of the philippinessenjoy robust economic growth. in southern thailand, a group of islamic insurgents carried out another deadly attack on thursday. at least ten people have been killed over the last three days.

the rebels are demanding autonomy for muslim-dominated provinces in the otherwise largest -- largely buddhist country. and internal security operation's command spokesperson says three soldiers were killed and another was injured in the province. insurgents apparently opened fire as the soldiers were helping villagers repair their homes. a series of assaults which began on tuesday have left at least five soldiers and five police officers dead. the thai government and major islamic militant groups have been talking since march to try to resolve the conflict. despite the recent violence, the national security council says the dialogue will continue in the first half of next month. muslim separatists have been fighting for more than a decade, demanding autonomy for three provinces in tie happenedhailan south. some indian farmers have

found plants with tiny seeds have huge potential. cluster beans have come into demand because of shifts in the global energy market. and 80% of the global supply comes from india. nhk has this report. >> translator: this is an auction of cluster beans. this has become a hot commodity since prices started rising two years ago. the dealers are anxious and they are charged. >> translator: the price jumped by ten times last year. it was amazing. >> this meanings cattle feed in hindi and it's used to be cheap. stir fried with red peppers and curry, it's a sauce for protein for many indians. it's also become a source of

profit for trading companies and farmers in recent years. tanks were unique property. it gets sticky when it's mixed with water. and that stickiness has an industrial usage. the process of extracting shale gas is known as fracking. shale gas development is booming in countries skuuch as the unit states. fracking in the united states and farming in india, have a common connection. shale gas comes from solid rocks deep underground. massive i amounts of pressurized water create cracks in the rocks releasing the shale gas. sand injected with the water

preventses the cracks from closing. but there's another ingredient, too. this is used to coat the grains of sand and help them spread out smoothly. the brokers have been flooded with orders from the united states. sales last year, tripled. >> we hope that they will be demanding more and more. >> reporter: this is a farmer that's been growing the beans for more than ten years. lacking irrigation, he relied on this because it was cheap and could survive the dry weather. thanks to the recent boom his income has risen more than eight times.

he was unable even able to buil himself a new house. >> translator: this room has enough space for three or four beds for when we have guests. and, also, my new motorcycle. >> reporter: he also worked another. something -- he has two children. when he was young, he had to leave school before junior high. but his children seem likely to have a brighter future. >> good job. >> translator: keep up the good work. >> translator: if everything goes well, my children's education and employment will be good and i'm beginning to love this. i didn't care much about it before but now, i'm obsessed.

>> reporter: to indian farmers, the shale gas development is somebody else's business in a far-away land. but it's bringing unexpected rewards closer to home. nhk world, back to you. a u.s. nuclear expert has visited the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. they spent four years directing clean-up operations after the nuclear disaster on three mile island in 1979. he says the problems at fukushima daiichi are far more

complex. but was invited by tokyo electric power company to tour the stricken plant. he inspected the storage tank from where 300 tons of contaminated water leaked last month and he was shown a construction site for barriers to prevent radioactive water from seeping into the sea. he says tepco's risk management was lax and it shoor designed higher barriers. he met the tepco president and he says the problems of fukushima daiichi are further complicated because of the involvement of groundwater. >> the challenge is huge. it makes three mi look very simple. what you have is much more complex, much more challenging. >> on friday, he's expected to meet tepco officials at the company's headquarters to give advice on how to manage the radioactive water. the poor handling of the plan poleses a serious threat to

local residents. about 40% of people who lived around the evacuation zone are choosing not to return, even though they have been told it's now safe. people still cannot live in the areas in red on this map. it's marijuainly within 20 kilos of the plan. about 80,000 people were forced to leave after the disaster and advisories were lifted by march of last year in the four municipalities shown in yellow but nhk has found only of 60% of the 60,000 residents have returned so far. >> translator: even though government officials keep saying our area is safe, there are no reliable criteria. that's why it's so difficult for my neighbors to decide whether they should return to their homes. >> many evacuees are worried about radiation that could harm their health and point to the

lack of facilities like hospitals and stores and they also need places to work. local leaders say they'll urge the central government to swiftly tackle the issue. the japanese embassy in french launched a protest with a french newspaper with a political cartoon about japan. the illustration jokes about tokyo's successful bid for the 2020 olympics and the ongoing nuclear crisis in fukushima. wednesday's edition of this newspaper ran a cartoon shows sumo wrestlers with extra limbs and the caption says "thanks to fukushima, sumo is now on oiming sport." jap's acting ambassador on thursday conveyed the protest and said it's highly regrettable the paper carried a comic that hurt the feelings of the people affected by the disaster. embassy plans to file a written

protest and says it was never their intention to insult the survivors. some people in japan are concerned about the number of ca cats and dogs that have to be put down. last year many cats and dogs had to be exterminated and now owners are responsible for their pets until they die and volunteers in one community are doing what they can to save stray animals from an early end. >> reporter: a group of citizens outside of tokyo has started a new campaign to protect stray cats. they have the animals spade or neutered to keep them from reproducing. >> translator: i see that more and more people are abandoning

pets haven't had the operation. >> reporter: when they reach the age of about moneight months ca are able to have kittens and the litters range in size from four to six kittens. one cat can have two to three litters a year and when they reproduce at the same rate 30 kittens can be born in a single year. as japan's stray cat population increased, more residents complained about their screeching and the smell of waste. often, local governments have had no choice but to put the animals down. in 2012, the number of cats exterminated across japan amounted to just over 131,000. about 60% were kittens. often, they were -- in order to

end the exterminations, officials in the prefecture decided to support neighborhood cat movement. if members look after stray cats in their areas. >> translator: our ultimate goal is to eliminate the need to kill cats. >> reporter: the prefecture gives financial assistance to citizen' groups and local communities that arrange for the neutering and spaying. after the procedure, the cat can no longer reproduce. so there will be no offspring to put down. >> translator: i'm sometimes asked if it's okay to deprive cats of their natural instincts but i want people to think about whether the stray kittens that result would lead happy lives. all things considered, i think it's best to go ahead with these operations.

>> reporter: cats that have been operated on become neighborhood cats. volunteers look after them. one of their ears is notched and it's a safe procedure so that everyone knows the animals can't reproduce. the food and kitty litter is paid for out of the assistance from the prefecture. group members decide when and where cats will be fed. the volunteers also manage sanitation. the volunteers are trying to get locals to support their plan. >> translator: if you see a cat without a notch, let us know right away. >> translator: i will. >> translator: i hope that the neighborhood residents, local government and volunteers like us will all pitch in together to do whatever we can to solve this problem. >> reporter: more people are looking out for stray cats. citizens are teaming up with the prefecture to find a humane way

to deal with strays. >> time for the market figures. time for the latest in world weather. good morning, it seems that there's a storm heading toward japan. what can we expect? cathrine, a tropical storm sl heading towards central japan and many residents should have to change their holiday plans unfortunately. the system is now a minimal tropical storm, more likely becoming severe tropical storm

and the sea surface temperatures are warm enough to support the system and there's no land masses obstacles to make the system weaken so it should intensify and will likely make landfall or get close to central japan by monday morning local time. tokyo will probably become stormy from sunday going into monday. heavy rain, strong winds and rough seas are going to be a very major risk across japan. across the rest of east asia, heavy rain and thunder showers for the korean peninsula and a new system over northeastern china and surrounding areas. not good news because across the region winds are high so that could worsen the situation. wide spread heavy rain for the indochina peninsula. temperatures will be hotter than usual. shanghai, 34. 30 degrees for this area toward tsz north and 9 for you in the north more like mid october. across the atlantic, we have a

hurricane. this is humberto. humberto is not going to affect any land masses and that's good news. it should weaken to a tropical storm within the next 24 hours. more concern is the tropical storm gabrielle located off the east coast of the continent. this would should weaken to a tropical depression by friday, however, it's got in track with a cold front and producing stormy conditions for atlantic canada on friday going into the weekend. we're forecasting gusts reaching in the 90 kilometers per hour with rainfall of 70 millimeters so stormy conditions starting likely on friday and in fact, the system is already affecting much of southeastern canada as well as the northeastern u.s. severe weather is likely for the next several hours. as we go into friday, much air is coming in from the north and creating some dry and nice conditions on your friday.

out toward the west, flooding rains once again for the four corners region. it caused massive flooding. look at the situation in colorado. flash floods caused by torrential downpours in colorado killed at least three people. a road k4r578sed near boulder sending three vehicle into rushing water and killing the three people involved. hundreds were forced to evacuate to higher ground. about 400 university students were moved from ground floor campus housing. rising waters caused building to collapse. extremely severe conditions across the area but the rain won't dissipate across the four corner's region any time soon. temperatures are extremely high in los angeles at 30 degrees. 27 degrees in seattle. meanwhile, much cooler kbooired to what we've been experiencing over the past several days. chicago, 18 degrees for you and 15 degrees in toronto. here's your extended forecast.

before we go we'd like to show you how traditional japanese symbols of good luck are getting people excited. making these dolls in the five colors of the olympic rings. they work in the city, the country's main center of production. they'll be making the dolless in various colors for the past 15 years. >> translator: we hope our dolls will help people feel a bit closer to the olympics. >> even the price of these dolls has an olympic theme. the games are coming to tokyo in 2020. so a set of dolls cost 2,020

yen. that's all for this edition of nhk. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

>> i see some repeaters in the audience. this is the fourth event of five that we are hosting to celebrate the centennial of woodrow wilson's inauguration as president in 1913. we had a dinner last night at wilson house, which included an interview with the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee, ed royce.